Neighbour
by Talarc
Summary: 'If you want to win against me so much, then hold my hand, and you win.' Takagi reflects on her relationship with Nishikata.


**A short Takagi POV looking at her thoughts on her relationship with Nishikata. Romance only in the sense of talking about romantic feelings. My first foray into romance, so feedback is appreciated and may be necessary...**

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Nishikata is different to the people I sat next to in elementary school.

If you met him for the first time, then you might think that he's hot-headed, moody, and weirdly stubborn. You'd be right, of course, and you might wonder why I enjoy sitting next to someone like that so much. Some of the other girls have constantly asked me how I can stand Nishikata when he's always randomly shouting out in class and getting into trouble with the teachers.

Of course, it would be mean of me to resent him for that – after all, I'm usually the reason why he's always calling out and getting into trouble! I _do_ feel a little bit sorry for him sometimes, but then he's such a great person to tease that I just can't help myself. Anyway, it would be unfair of me to dislike him for what he's so good at. In fact, I'm sure that I could never come to dislike him.

The thing is, even though he's often quite rude and is always cooking up hilarious attempts to get revenge on me for the latest time I teased him, he isn't a bad person. I've known that for a long time – since the day we first met. I was nervous enough on our first day of school without being late. Yet he had to come into class late because he'd stopped off at the office to turn in my handkerchief. He didn't need to do that, but he still did. I think that says a lot about him.

It wasn't just when we met though. The time he shared his umbrella with me as well – with all the time I spent teasing him, he could have just stepped away and left me to get soaked. He didn't. There are other times when he'll still help me if I ask for it, like when I pretended my pencil case was jammed shut, when I'd actually turned it into a jack-in-the-box (in my defence, he was planning the exact same trick for me!). You'd think that he wouldn't be kind at all. That he'd be taking every opportunity to try and be mean to me.

And that's the thing: he might claim that he's trying to get back at me all the time, but it's like he can't escape from his own kind-hearted nature. I don't know exactly why he acts the way he normally does – maybe he wants to try and look cool to the other boys? That would be _so_ like Nishikata. After all, that's the same reason why he's always trying to hide the fact that he watches shoujo anime and sneaks off early in the morning at the weekend to buy _100% Unrequited Love_ at the bookstore a station away.

Even though he seems obsessed with teasing me back, he never seems mean-spirited. He's not the kind of person who would take advantage of a situation either – I remember him awkwardly trying to comfort me when I was feeling down after an argument with my mum. I mean, I can't say this for sure, but I kinda get the feeling that Nishikata might actually feel bad if he ever did really hurt me. Maybe I should pretend to be _really_ offended the next time he tries to get his revenge, just to see how he'd react…

That's another thing about Nishikata – his reactions are always so funny! He can be way too proud sometimes and doesn't know when to quit. Or tries to cover up what he was doing. Watching him trying to convince me that he wasn't doing what we both know I saw him doing really is something – it's always so obvious when he's trying to lie. He squirms, he blushes, he can't look me in the eyes. It's too hard to resist the temptation to let him keep going. I always leave him to it for far too long, really. I guess there's something fascinating about the determination to carry on even when it's pointless. It really is one of the most interesting things about him.

And, actually, that's him normally as well. Pretty much every day since we first met on the first day of school, we've constantly been 'competing' and every single time, I have been the one who's won. Well, _he_ thinks I've won every time and I'm in no hurry to correct him! But even though I'm the one who always wins our fun little competitions, he still keeps coming back and trying to win. He'll jump on any opportunity I offer him – just say the word "contest" and he's happy to join in. And I kinda get the feeling that he doesn't dislike it – losing to me, that is! Sure, he might grumble about how he's only in it to finally beat me, but I wonder how he would actually react if he did?

Well, I have an idea at least. That's something else about Nishikata: he gets so happy with the smallest victories. The time when I forgot my umbrella and made him share his with me, I remember him asking if I was a forgetful person. When I said 'yes', he seemed oddly happy. The smallest victories, huh? I kinda like seeing him like that though, even if I have to bring him back down again afterwards. I can't help it – he's just so very good at being teased! If he didn't leave himself so open like that after every small victory, then _maybe_ I'd be able to control myself.

He does try very hard though, and I think he's getting better at competing with me as well. I guess that's what you'd expect after all the time I've spent teasing him! It's just unfortunate for him that he just can't keep up. I'll always remember the time when we both came to school early when he was on day duty. I listened to him when he arrived and was trying to work out where I was hidden. I knew that he'd work out that leaving my shoes under the teacher's desk was a trick and wouldn't be enough to fool him, but I was confident that he'd focus on all the easy hiding spots – even though he could've seen me through the curtain I was hiding behind, he never thought to look there. Just as he's learning how to dodge some of my tricks, I've learned a lot about how he thinks – I'll always be a couple of steps ahead of him.

Despite everything, Nishikata is still happy to compete with me. It seems that way if you look for a long time, or at least when he's not groaning in frustration. He's always vowing to beat me, and I often wonder what that really means. What would his 'victory' mean for him? Who knows, maybe he's trying to impress me? Now that would be a good thing to use the next time he suggests a contest! I can just imagine the face he'd make…

Actually, that's another thing about Nishikata. I can always tell when he's plotting something because of the expression on his face. It's this overconfident smirk that appears as soon as he thinks he's on to a winning plan. 'This will finally be the time that I beat her,' I imagine him thinking. But I like that smile. It means that he's thinking about me, and that makes me happy. I don't even think it's a mean smile, just that he's looking forward to spending time with me, even if he'd never admit it.

I guess that's why I like him so much.

That, and his expression whenever I mention things like this. He'll always blush and furiously deny anything he's done if I frame it that way. But ironically this is still the best way for him to finally get that victory he claims to so badly want. For all the times I implied or even told him my feelings, I know that I'd be totally unprepared if he did the same things back. If that were the case though, then I guess I could let Nishikata win for once. That's why, in different ways, I keep telling him:

'If you want to win against me so much, then hold my hand, and you win.'


End file.
